Sphinx Without a Secret
by Murgen
Summary: Wolfwood saves somebody that had been attacked by bounty hunters who thought he was Vash, Wolfwood and Vash become good friends with the new guy, action soon to come, plz R&R.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or any of its characters.. I actually don't own much of anything. ::pouts::  
  
I decided to create a Trigun story with a character of my own creation as my star. I had originally planned on not making somebody but instead using Vash as the main char of the story but decided against it, since I have a habit of injuring the main character more than I should and didn't want a bunch of people flaming me for hurting their precious Vash. I am not sure yet where I am going with this story, I just got the idea for this first chapter in a daydream; it was just so vivid I had to write it down, so if anybody has an idea about how to continue the story, please, don't be shy.  
  
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The young man walked slowly down the ally, toward the main street. He wore a white shirt, black pants, along with a bright red jacket across his back was slung a rifle with a huge site. The bar he had been in a few seconds earlier had gotten a bit to rowdy, so he had decided to leave. He heard the door open and close again behind him, figured others were getting away from the fight inside. But soon he was proved wrong as he heard the all-to-familiar sound of a machinegun being cocked, he tried to ignore it and keep moving, but soon was halted as the man behind him shouted something, he couldn't tell what the man said because he was quite a distance away, practically out of the ally actually, but it sounded like the man had said halt, then something unintelligible, maybe a name, no, it was to long to be a name. He stopped in his tracks and turned slowly, there was three of them, this wasn't a good sign, he could take one, maybe two, but not three, he saw that only one of them men actually had a gun pointed at him, the other to had theirs pointed at the ground at their feet, maybe if he surprised them, no, he didn't want to rush things, maybe their could be some diplomatic solution to this, but then he noticed the man with the gun pointed at him to start to tense up, like he was preparing to fire, so he was forced into action. He dropped to one knee, his rifle suddenly in his hands, he aimed quickly and fired, the bullet shattering the mans kneecap, unfortunately, the man with the machinegun had pulled the trigger even as he was hit, he had managed to get off three rounds before he fell to the ground. The distance wasn't to great for him to miss entirely, one round grazed his side, another pierced his shoulder and the third hit him just under the collarbone, he could feel it go through his shoulder blade, and come out the other side, he staggered back a few feet, then fell out of the ally, tumbling out into the street, ending up on his back. He was breathing heavily, clinching his teeth against the pain. Suddenly the other two were standing to either side of him, then they started to kick him, his moans and screams could be heard for a short distance in either direction. After a few minutes, he started to loose consciousness, then the kicks stopped, he opened his eyes a bit more to see why, the he saw one man draw a pistol from his pocket, the would-be gunman placed a foot on his injured shoulder, and leaned forward a bit, sending waves of pain through the barely conscious man under him, he then pointed the gun at the man in the red jacket.  
  
"Say good night, Vash the Stampede." He said menacingly.  
  
Vash the Stampede? Who the hell was Vash the Stampede? Oh well, it didn't matter, he would be shot anyway, besides he had no breath to say that he was not this, Vash. He started to close his eyes, waiting for what he knows is to come. Then, all of a sudden, the man above him, was gone, he looked left and right, and saw the guy to his left, on the ground, his gun nowhere in site, but, laying next him was a large object, it looked almost like a cross, but it was wrapped in white cloth and the cloth was kept on by a leather strap. He then look over to his right, and could see a man knocking out his other attacker. Then the man walked over to him, leaned over him, it was easy to tell he was a priest.  
  
"Are you ok kid?" He could barely hear his savior, he seemed to sound far off, almost like a whisper, then the tormented man finally lost consciousness, and fell into a very deep, but far from pleasant sleep.  
  
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Whew that was fun eh? Hoped you guys like it, please review, but be nice, it was my first attempt at a fic, and please, no flaming. 


	2. Rude Awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or any of its characters.  
  
I finally decided on a plot, it was inspired by an Oscar Wilde short story by the same name as this story "The Sphinx without a Secret." Hope you like this chapter, please read and review!  
  
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He woke up suddenly, to the feeling of a sudden fall. The dream had been horrible, he had been mistaken for some outlaw, he couldn't even remember the name, and then he had been shot. He was sweating like mad, and the sweat was as cold as ice, his entire body was numb and didn't want to respond, so he just laid their and looked around the room, wondering where he was, moving only his head and eyes. The room was small, the once white wallpaper now peeling, the bed looked to be the only thing in the room, there was only one door, and no windows, he could hear low talking through the closed door. He gradually regained feeling to his body; it came in the form of a dull ache. He slowly started to sit up, about halfway to a sitting position, his left side suddenly erupted into a sharp, searing pain, kind of like a paper cut but a hundred times worse. (If that's even possible) He instantly shifted his weight to his right side, bring his left hand up to grab at his left side, no sooner did he start the maneuver but his shoulder and an area dangerously close to his throat exploded with pain, his left arm went completely without sensation instantly, buckling under even the small weight he was putting on it. He let out a long, low scream, through clinched teeth, falling back onto the bed, his breathing now harsh and labored. He didn't even notice when the door suddenly came crashing in, his senses completely deadened to the outside world, all that he could hear was his heart beating loudly, pounding in his head, he eyes closed tightly against the pain that racked his body, all his other sense turned inward, concentrating on the pain that felt like it would devour him. Finally, he could see, well, sort of, his eyes were being wrenched open by somebody; he looked into the face of a tall, dark man, he looked like a priest, he suddenly remembered his "dream", maybe it wasn't a dream after all, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a new wave of pain seared its way through his body. He curled himself into a tight ball; all it served to do was injure him further, tearing his wounds farther open. The he heard someone yelling, though he didn't know how he could hear anything over his own heart beat. It was the priest; he was yelling "Vash! Come over hear and help me! We need to get him to stop moving around so much!" At the name Vash, he stopped moving around, ignored most of the pain that was gradually beginning to lighten, Vash? Wasn't that what one of the attackers in my dream had called me, no; it wasn't a dream, that's for sure. He then felt hands on him, laying him flat on his back, stopping him from moving even the tiniest bit. He slowly opened his eyes, the lids hurt from being pressed together so hard, he looked down, realized he was still struggling on instinct, he slowly stopped himself, he looked at the two men that held him down. Indeed one was the one who had saved in what he had thought had been a dream. The other was a tall man with spiky blonde hair, and an odd red coat. The priest was looking at him with genuine concern. He leaned forward, his cross around his neck hanging down, almost touching the bed. "You need to stop struggling kid, your just gonna make it worse on yourself." He couldn't help but interpret that as a threat, his body tensing, he didn't care that it made his shoulder and side hurt even more. "No you idiot! I won't do anything to you! You going to tear yourself apart, your beat up pretty bad, it's a miracle you're even still alive!" the priest said, exasperated. He relaxed again with a relieved sigh. Only then did he notice the warm feeling spreading through his shoulder and side, he looked down and saw blood quickly spreading through bandaged he had also previously overlooked. He laid back once again, exhausted, he quickly fell into an uneasy sleep, the other two were talking amongst themselves, something about more bandages.  
  
He woke up again a few hours later, his bandages replaced with fresh ones. "Welcome back!" He easily recognized the voice of the priest, he started to sit up but there was a hand on his chest the second he started moving, pushing him back down. "Don't think so. remember what happened last time?" He did, a little to vividly, he gladly laid back, making himself comfortable, he turned his head so he can looking at the man who had done so much for him for no reason at all. At the moment he didn't care why, as much as whom. "Who are you?" he said, surprised at how weak he sounded, then he realized how weak he actually was at the moment, he couldn't sit up, and judging by how tired he was, he probably could if he tried. The other man stood, performing an almost comically short bow. "Wolfwood's the name." "Pleasure to meet you.Wolfwood was it? My name is Murgen." He slowly extended his right hand, careful not to hurt himself any further. Wolfwood took it, shook it lightly, ever mindful of the others wounds. "Would you mind telling me exactly what happened? I am a bit hazy on the details." A solemn nod. "Of course. I was doing my nightly errands..ok, I was barhopping, when I heard gunfire, there wasn't much, so I figure someone was severely hurt, or dead. So I got over to where the shots had originated from, and saw two men mercilessly, kicking something on the ground, that something ended up being you. Then I saw one draw a gun, and lean over you, he then said something about Vash the Stampede, that's when I noticed the red jacket you were wearing, so I figured that you were my friend Vash, who has a bit of a bounty on his head, so, of course I knocked the two off of you. Then I noticed that you were not Vash, which is just as good, because if he found out that someone else had died by mistake because of his. transgressions. he would charge himself the blame, which would way even more on his already heavy conscience, he feels bad enough as it is. That is why he is helping me get you back into good health. Well, that's the gist of what happened. Did that clear things up for you?" "Yes, thank you. How big of a bounty does your friend have on his head?" "60 billion double dollars." His eyes seem to jump out of there sockets. "That's, a lot of money." "Hey! Don't go getting any ideas!" "No never! I wouldn't even think of betraying someone who has helped save my life!" "Good." Long silence. "Wolfwood?" "Yeah?" "Thank you, for everything, I am in your dept."  
  
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I actually liked that chapter better than the first, hope you guys did too. Please review, NO FLAMERS! Thank you, and thanks for reading my story. 


	3. Apology Accepted

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or any of its characters.  
  
Ok, after this chapter I will not write another until I have at least, lets say.. 4 reviews, I have already written two chapters without getting a single review, and I will not continue writing this story if I know nobody likes it, so PLEASE review!  
  
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For the next week nothing much happened, he even started to settle into a rhythm, he woke up around noon, ate lunch, slept for a few hours, woke to ate dinner, then went back to sleep. After a few days he was able to stand and walk, but it was very painful, so he usually just stayed in bed.  
He didn't see Vash after the man had helped Wolfwood stop him during his painful fit the previous week. But he found out while talking to Wolfwood a couple of days earlier that Vash would sit near the bed for large amounts of time, just sit their as if he were watching over him.  
One day, Murgen woke up early, well before noon. No sooner had he opened then he heard something move beside him, then he saw Vash's backside as he headed for the door. "Wait!" he called after him. The man in the red coat stopped just inside of the door, and reluctantly turned around. Murgen slowly began to sit up, about halfway up he grimaced as a sharp pain went through his side, Vash was there in a second to help him up. He was feeling much better, but it was amazing how much something as simple as sitting up hurt. He leaned back against the headboard, sighed deeply.  
"Are you feeling much better?" Vash asked, a worried expression on his face.  
A nod. "Yeah, bet ya I could run a marathon." He said sarcastically, giving a weak smile. Vash's face remained solemn, almost contemplative.  
After a short, uncomfortable silence, Vash finally smiled feebly and nodded as if just hearing. After another short silence, Vash took a deep breathe and started to say something but seemed to think better of it.  
Murgen noticed "What's on your mind?" He wanted to find out what was on the outlaws mind, and he didn't want to beat around the bush, so he decided to be blunt.  
Vash seemed taken aback at the frankness of the question, he stuttered for a second, then relaxed himself.  
"Well. uh. it's just that. I'm sorry." Sorry? That's all he had to say? He was that reluctant about an apology? Murgen was starting to get a bit mad.  
"Sorry? You are sorry!? Just because one person could have died because they had been mistaken as you? I don't see why you should be sorry, I am sure that in order for you to get a bounty as big as the one on your head, you must have killed hundreds of people! Hell! You probably had to destroy a whole damn town! What would you care if one more person died because of you!?" He was breathing heavily, the breathe gone from his lungs, he took a moment to steady himself, he glared at Vash, but as soon as he saw the way his words had stung the man his anger was completely swept away. Vash looked as if he had been struck by a fist, his eyes downcast, absorbing the man's words. He started to clinch and unclench his fists; he looked up suddenly, his eyes filled with rage. He seemed to be trying as hard as he could to not strike the injured man in front of him.  
"I have NEVER killed ANYONE! At least not directly. I have destroyed a city, but it was completely empty, I would not be able to live with myself if I knew I had killed an innocent, or if someone else had been killed because of something that I have done!" after the few seconds it took him to catch his breathe, he seemed to deflate. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled, you had every reason to be mad at me." He stood and headed for the door."  
"Wait!" Murgen called after him once again, he was ashamed of the way he had acted. Vash half turned, seemed to brace himself against another verbal, or maybe even physical assault. "Apology accepted." They both smiled. Vash nodded, was relieved to not have made yet another enemy. He turned and walked out the door.  
No sooner had Vash closed the door, then it came slamming open again, and in the doorway stood Wolfwood, who looked worried, had probably heard all the shouting and thought there had been a fight. "What..what happened?"  
"Nothing, Vash just apologized for everything, I blew up in his face, a short verbal fight ensued, we made up, he left.."  
"Oh, are you guys on good terms now?"  
Nod. "Indeed, I think this may be the start of a good friendship."  
  
I know, I know, it was short, but that's all I could think of, and if I had put what plan on putting in the next chapter it probably would have been 2000+ words, and I don't like writing really long chapters, takes to long. I promise it will get better, so please review, like I said, it will take at least 4 reviews to get a new chapter, so review already! 


	4. Rude Awakening 2: The Unrelated Sequel

Disclaimer: (starting to sound the rainman) not mine..definitely not mine..no, no I don't own Trigun..wish I did, but I don't.. (Breaks off into incoherent muttering)  
  
No I do not know where that came from so don't ask..  
  
I was getting sick of waiting for reviews, I was starting to forget where I was going with the story, so I just decided that if I am going to write the story I might as well do it now, someone will read it eventually right? I would like to take this time to thank Metallica, even though they probably did nothing, by coincidence I have been listening to the black album the entire time I was think up and typing up this story.  
  
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What was I doing again? Oh yeah! The story! This story will finally have some action, also, I'm going to try something different, I am going to mix in some different points of view as well, hope ya like it!  
  
************************************************************************ He was almost completely healed, he could do almost anything with only minimal pain, while Vash and Wolfwood worked odd jobs around town, he worked in the house, he still slept a lot, but he did that before he was hurt, so not much had changed. His eyes jumped open with a start; he didn't know why he had awoken so suddenly, he then felt a low rumble, like thunder from a far-off lightning strike. No, something was different about it, it felt like it came from someplace, but it wasn't loud enough to be lightning. Then he heard it, long bursts of machinegun fire, broken by loud pops from some high caliber gun. The sounds came from close by, very close by, then he realized, the house was probably under attack, I mean, there was a man with a huge bounty on his head living here, of course the house would eventually come under attack. He thought all this without moving an inch, he wasn't scared, he had been in battle many times before. He got out of the bed quickly, he needed some kind of weapon, in case the fight got all the way back to this room, where had they put his rifle? He looked under the bed, and there it was, he reached under the bed and pulled out his trusty rifle, of course, it wasn't loaded, he hurriedly searched the room, but there weren't any bullets anywhere, guess they didn't trust him. He didn't have much time to think about this, the sounds were drawing closer, he will just have to make do, he flips a hidden switch in the butt of the gun, a few clicking sounds result, then the shoulder rest falls open, inside was a 12 inch knife, he pulled it out hastily, he moved over to the door, leaned against one wall, so that the door would swing open away from him, and he could have a clear opening to attack whoever tried to get in. He leaned the rifle against the wall next to him, the gunshots seemed to be coming from just outside the door. Abruptly, the door slammed open, followed by a blur of red, he could barely keep up with it, Vash flew across the room, he feet not touching the ground once, his gun firing in a steady rhythm the entire way to the back wall, which he hit with a grunt. After he realized that his pistol was out of ammo, he jumped to the side, and the wall where he had been standing was suddenly riddled with holes. He ran forward and slammed the door shut. All of this happened in a matter of seconds, Murgen just stood there, in awe, but the awe didn't end there, as Vash ran over to the bed, flipping it over and throwing it in front of the door, apparently without trying. Finally, Murgen started to move, he walked over to Vash while the man in red reloaded his gun. "What the hell is going on?" Murgen asked. Vash merely shook his head and pointed his gun at the door, no sooner did he do this than the door, exploded open, machinegun rounds fell into the walls behind them, but somehow none hit either of them, even though they were standing right in front of the door. Vash opened up, he seemed to fire only two shots, but he opened up his gun and six spent rounds flew out, he quickly deposited six more with his speed load. He pointed the gun at the door yet again, well, more like a couple of small chunks of would hanging off one hinge, which gave way, leaving the doorway completely open. Vash kept his gun trained down the hallway, holding it in one hand, his other was searching his pockets, he pulled out a handful of huge bullets, rifle bullets, so that's where they were keeping them, pretty safe place. he handed him to Murgen, who rapidly loaded his own weapon, then held it up firm against his shoulder.  
  
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The bounty hunter ran down the hall, another man right in front of him, they both stopped next to a corner which turned into yet another hallway, the first man rounded the corner, then was immediately thrown against the wall, he had two holes in them, neither wounds were serious but the force of the shots had knocked him unconscious. The second man approached the corner warily. He figured that if he rounded the corner as fast as he could and opened up with his machinegun, he could get at least one of them. He spun around the corner, leveled off his gun waist high, he looked down the hall, what he saw froze him where he stood, the wall was filled with men, all of them wounded and unconscious, the walls and floor were slick with blood, but that isn't what scared him the most. Nor was it the two cavernous maws of the guns pointed at him, no, it was the two holding the guns, neither one was a very imposing person, but the air around them was that of grim determination, they didn't seem to be the least bit afraid, looking into there eyes was like looking into the cold, uncaring eyes of the grim reaper himself. He couldn't even move when the two guns exploded as one, he was swept instantly off his feet, flying backwards into the wall, landing next to his partner; he was out before he even hit the wall.  
  
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Murgen and Vash stood there for a few minutes, no one came, but they could hear gunshots still.  
"Wolfwood!" they both said in unison. They couldn't hear anybody coming so they cautiously left the room, making there way toward the sounds of machinegun fire. It sounded like there was only gun firing nonstop. Finally they reached the hallway that lead to Wolfwood's room. (I know, to many hallways!) Murgen signaled for Vash to guard there back, and then turned the corner into the hall, in front of him was a man that seemed to fill the entire hall, he was facing into Wolfwood's room, he held a giant machinegun in his hands, his back was covered by a huge ammo box, which was feeding the machinegun a constant stream of ammo, covering his sides was two water jugs, each one with a tube running to the barrel of the gun, keeping it cool so that the gun wouldn't jam. The constant heavy fire was making it so that Wolfwood couldn't shoot back, all he could do was hide around the corner and wait for a break in the steady stream of hot lead. The big man couldn't hear as Murgen snuck up behind him, drew out his knife, and cut the ammo feed to the gun. After a few seconds the heavy gun fell silent, the man uttered a confused grunt, Wolfwood had gotten the hint he swung into the doorway, standing behind a massive silver cross, a handgun in each hand, he shot twice and his attacker fell to one knee, the other knee shattered, then suddenly, Wolfwood was in the hall, swinging the cross, it fell onto the large man's head with a resounding crack. He fell to the ground, causing it to shake under his weight, still with a confused look on his face. Finally, the house was quiet. Vash came up behind Murgen, clapped a hand on the young mans shoulder, causing him to jump. Vash chuckled lightly. "Good job." Vash said evenly, trying not to start laughing again at the others skittishness (yes that is a word!). But he didn't even have a chance; Murgen spun around and hit him on the top of the head, an evil glare in his eyes. "Don't do that!!!" he yelled, then started to laugh at the look on Vash's face. Vash's eyes were bulging out of his head, a tear welling up in one eye as a bump slowly rose on the top of his head. Murgen then turned toward Wolfwood, ignoring Vash as he started to yell "Ow!" over and over again like an idiot. "Hey Wolfwood, who were those guys?" he had to ask, even though he had a pretty good idea. "It seems those guys you were having trouble with a few weeks ago brought some friends, this isn't all of them, the whole town is full of them, I don't think we will be going anywhere for awhile." Somewhere far off a black cat meows questioningly.  
  
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I had to put the black cat in somewhere; it is in every episode of Trigun, so, it should also be in every fan fic about Trigun as well. Hope you guys liked this chapter, as you can tell, there will be more action to come, and I am cooking up a little twist as well! Fun! 


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